Marilyn & Roswell

By far the most controversial piece of unauthenticated documentation pertaining to UFOs concerns none other than the late Hollywood legend, Marilyn Monroe. It was during a press conference in 1995 that Milo Speriglio – an investigative author now deceased, who wrote three books on Monroe’s death: The Marilyn Conspiracy; Marilyn Monroe: Murder Cover-Up; and Crypt 33: The Saga of Marilyn Monroe – revealed the document to the world’s press.

Incredibly, according to the document, which surfaced via a California-based researcher of UFOs named Timothy Cooper, President John F. Kennedy had guardedly informed Monroe that he had secret knowledge of the controversial incident at Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947. As a result of Kennedy’s revelations to Monroe, the CIA took keen note of any and all developments as the story progressed. Or, at least, that is what we are led to believe, and what the document implies.

“I had [the document] probably about two months before I did anything with it. I looked at it and said, ‘Marilyn Monroe and aliens? No way,’” explained Speriglio at the press conference. The bulk of the contents of the document are focused upon telephone conversations between Howard Rothberg, the former owner of a New York-based antique store, and Dorothy Kilgallen, the well-known celebrity gossip columnist of the 1950s and 1960s, who was herself the subject of a secret 167-page FBI file.

According to Speriglio: “[Rothberg] also dealt with a lot of photographers who used to film Marilyn. He got a lot of information about her from them, and he would feed it to Dorothy Kilgallen.” Interestingly, Speriglio also revealed that the document was the subject of an investigation that was being undertaken by no less than “two federal agencies.” To date, however, the names of those specific agencies have not been revealed.

When the document surfaced, Vicki Ecker, then the editor of UFO Magazine, said: “To put it succinctly, the document suggests that on the day she died, Monroe was going to hold her own press conference, where she was planning to spill the beans about, amongst other things, JFK’s secret knowledge of UFOs and dead aliens.”

Indeed, the document, ominously dated only two days before Monroe’s controversial death on August 5, 1962, tells the whole, remarkable story. Notably, at the top of the page it clearly states: “References: MOON DUST, Project” (which was a genuine U.S. operation designed to capture, understand, and exploit overseas advanced technologies, such as Soviet spy-satellites) and begins as follows:

“Rothberg discussed the apparent comeback of [Marilyn Monroe] with Kilgallen and the break up with the Kennedy’s. Rothberg told Kilgallen that [Monroe] was attending Hollywood parties hosted by Hollywood’s elite and was becoming the talk of the town again. Rothberg indicated in so many words, that [Monroe] had secrets to tell, no doubt arising from her trysts with the President and the Attorney General.”

The document then gets to the point: “One such ‘secret’ mentioned the visit by the President at a secret air base for the purpose of inspecting things from outer space. Kilgallen replied that she knew what might be the source of the visit. In the mid-fifties Kilgallen learned of a secret effort by US and UK governments to identify the origins of crashed spacecraft and dead bodies, from a British Government official. Kilgallen believed the story may have come from the New Mexico area in the late forties. Kilgallen said that if the story is true, it would cause terrible embarrassment for Jack [Kennedy] and his plans to have NASA put me on the moon.”

And from there, we learn much more: “[Monroe] repeatedly called the Attorney General and complained about the way she was being ignored by the President and his brother. [Monroe] threatened to hold a press conference and would tell all. [Monroe] made references to bases in Cuba and knew of the President’s plan to kill Castro. [Monroe] made reference to her ‘diary of secrets’ and what the newspapers would do with such disclosures.”

That Dorothy Kilgallen was indeed implicated in the UFO controversy is not a matter of any doubt. In the May 23, 1955 edition of the Los Angeles Examiner, Kilgallen wrote: “British scientists and airmen, after examining the remains of one mysterious flying ship, are convinced these strange aerial objects are not optical illusions or Soviet inventions, but are flying saucers which originate on another planet. The source of my information is a British official of Cabinet rank who prefers to remain unidentified.”

The “British official” told Kilgallen that: “We believe, on the basis of our inquiry thus far, that the saucers were staffed by small men – probably under four feet tall. It’s frightening, but there is no denying the flying saucers come from another planet.”

Kilgallen was further advised that a report concerning the crash was being withheld by the British Government, since it did not wish to alarm the general public. In other words, this gels very well with the comments attributed to Kilgallen in the CIA document obtained by Milo Speriglio.

Of course, it goes without saying that if Kennedy had secretly imparted details of his knowledge of the Roswell affair of 1947 to Marilyn Monroe, then this would have been considered an extremely grave matter to the CIA, hence the surveillance of the activities of the Hollywood actress. But officialdom had another reason to be concerned: Monroe’s dabbling in communism, an issue that attracted the FBI’s attention for years. In other words, even without the UFO connection, Monroe was still perceived as somewhat of a significant national security issue. UFOs, maybe, were just the icing on the cake.

But, with all that said, where are things at today with respect to this most curious and extremely controversial document? Well, Tim Cooper left the UFO scene years ago, and has utterly washed his hands of the document – as well as many other questionable documents on crashed UFOs that he secured from Deep Throat-type sources in the 1990s.

And the CIA? The Agency officially denies having any files, at all, on the Hollywood hotty – despite the ironic fact that the very first document in the FBI’s “Monroe File” was copied to the CIA! As for the players in the saga, they’re all gone to their graves.

Like so much of Ufology, the story of Marilyn Monroe, her still-controversial death, and a potential link to crashed UFOs will probably never fully go away. And, it’s a story likely never to be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone. Unless, that is, you know better…

Nick Redfern works full time as a writer, lecturer, and journalist. He writes about a wide range of unsolved mysteries, including Bigfoot, UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, alien encounters, and government conspiracies. Nick has written 41 books, writes for Mysterious Universe and has appeared on numerous television shows on the The History Channel, National Geographic Channel and SyFy Channel.